Partnership with China remains most important area in Russian foreign politics, president says

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has affirmed that strategic partnership with China remains the most important area of the Russian foreign politics, he said during a meeting with Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Chinese side of the Russian-Chinese Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation. "I would like to stress once again that strategic partnership with China remains a most important area in the foreign politics for Russia," the president said. "We highly value relations we currently have; this happened mostly due to China’s authorities and personally the Chinese president whom we regard as our friend." Putin asked to convey his greetings to Xi Jinping. The Russian leader congratulated Zhang Youxia on his election to the Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China. "It is important to us, as you became a co-chairman of the Russian-Chinese Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation," the head of state explained. The president wished Zhang Youxia success and expressed hope that all that had been done before will be preserved and that cooperation in this area will continue developing. Zhang Youxia thanked Putin for the congratulation. He also extended a friendly greeting with best wishes from the name of Xi Jinping. Zhang Youxia reiterated that back in 2013, while being the head of the CMC Equipment Development Department, he participated in a meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation and then met with Putin for the first time. The Chinese delegation head noted that the Russian leader enjoys great support among the Russian people and achieved great success while in office. "You’ve made important contribution to settlement of some important and complicated issues both internationally and regionally and thus demonstrated political firmness and outstanding leadership capability," Zhang Youxia noted. Speaking about cooperation between Russia and China, Zhang Youxia named an interesting fact as an example: Putin and Xi Jinping have met 24 times since 2013. Read more